Oil prices consolidated their gains above $45 a barrel on Tuesday, helped by a rebound in global markets and signs that the Opec oil cartel is winning its battle to narrow the gap between falling demand and production.

The challenge that Opec faces was highlighted by a fresh report from the US government forecasting that global oil demand will drop this year by 1.4m barrels a day, 200,000 b/d more than it forecast a month ago.